We hope you all had a blast at our first race of the season at Sherwood

We would like to once again thank our fabulous Sponsors CSJ for our podium prizes and the Happy Go Lucky Dog Company for their vouchers. We would also like to thank those outwith the SDAS committee who helped us over the weekend. All of your efforts are greatly cherished!

Below is our race report from the weekend as well as the results from both Saturday and Sundays 1 day races 🙂

SDAS would like to invite its members with Registered Nordic Breed teams to apply to represent Scotland as part of the SDAS Team attending the WSA World Championship in Samorin, Slovakia 16th – 18th November 2018.

The team will be chosen by the committee from those who have supported the SDAS Championship series and have well controlled, competitive teams.

Entry fees set by WSA are €100 for your first class entered, €50 for a second class. (Maximum two classes per competitor)
Juniors start free of charge.
The entry fee in GP pounds to pay SDAS is £90 or £45 reflect the euro / GBP exchange rate and to cover an equal share of the bank charges for the currency exchange.

Those wishing to be considered for the team must send an email immediately stating your chosen classes to bowlandtrails@gmail.com followed by paying your starting fees payable to SDAS: cheque posted to Mary Carter, Bowland Trails, Netheraird of Glasclune, Blairgowrie, Perthshire, PH10 6SF or by direct bank transfer (Details available on request) or via Paypal: payments@SDAS.org.uk

Fees must be received by 25th October 2018 to allow the international transfer to be completed in one transaction and therefore reduce the bank charges.

At this stage, applying will not guarantee your place on the team. The allocation for each nation is yet to be decided.

All applicants for the SDAS team must also register their entry here: https://racedata.wsa-sleddog.com/ and successful applicants will have their application confirmed by SDAS.

Accommodation possibilities: Near the start is X-Bionic Sphere resort or hotel Kormoran (but both are a bit higher cat), in the city is eg. Hotel Samaria, the accomodation can also be found in the surrounding villages, or Bratislava is also not that far.

First of all we wish to apologise for the delay in publishing our race calendar for the up and coming race series and we hope it hasn’t caused any inconvenience for those wishing to attend our races

As you may or may not be aware, the BSSF held their AGM on the 30th June 2018 which I, Jambo Smith – current SDAS Chair alongside Mary Carter – current SDAS Secretary attended. I was initially refused entry to the AGM owing to the BSSF deciding SDAS no longer wished to be affiliated with them. It was actually embarrassing and I was made to feel very unwelcome and extremely intimidated. I was only granted entry (after a rushed and flustered discussion between the President and VP of Sport) as I am a committee member of the NSDSC – which is affiliated to the BSSF – and was incorrectly told by the current BSSF President that I was able to sit in as a voting member of the NSDSC but ‘I was not allowed to say anything, that I was only a voting member and I was not allowed to have an opinion on any of the subjects’, which was a fabrication and against their constitution and strategic plan.

In this AGM (after a lengthily internal BSSF Council debate on whether the BSSF ‘wished to accept’ SDAS back as an affiliated club) it was proposed and voted in for SDAS to be offered first refusal for organising the BSSF Northern Race event given the history between the two and owing to SDAS being the reason as to why the BSSF now holds monopoly on competitors qualifying to race in the IFFS World Championship.

Since then we have been waiting on response from the BSSF to try and get this Northern event organised only to be ignored for up to several days at a time (first email sent ((17/7/2018) and reply received (4/8/2018) ) and railroaded when specific questions were asked (GDPR policies being fabricated to suit the needs of the council). After standing our ground and reminding the BSSF of what’s been voted in by ‘THIER MEMBERS’ we have now been instructed that the race will go ahead on the date allocated (which we have no problem with) but the BSSF have now also decided that it will be at their chosen venue – Eagle Brae.

We have expressed repeatedly to the BSSF (in email correspondence and also in person at the AGM) that we as SDAS would not be running the race at Eagle Brae. We have named a few venues such as Darnaway and Ford Estate for this race to be held at that are far more economical financially, much better standard of trails, logistically easier to travel to for competitors and yet time and time again the BSSF are demanding it be held at Eagle Brae???? Why??? Why are the BSSF so pro Eagle Brae?? Why are they so insistent on using this venue and not allowing us to chose our own?

From this its apparent to me and all involved that the BSSF are more inclined towards supporting their own council members over its affiliated clubs and their members.

Sadly I’m not surprised by this revelation. I’ve felt for a while that the BSSF’s current Council seem to be adhering to their own personal agendas but I’ve never acted on it. Although after attending the AGM and talking to the BSSF members I can say I’m not alone in this theory which was supported by almost an entire room of people in favour of when I called for a vote of no confidence in the Council due to their disregard of their own constitution, strategic plan and policies and their inability or unwillingness to fulfil their council roles. My proposal was promptly and wrongly refused by a stand in Executive Director of the BSSF who had only been appointed to the role that very morning, however, I do feel that if it had been allowed to be voted on we would be in a very different position today. From all this I had expected to receive some negativity from the BSSF Council, although not quite to the extent of which I have.

For the UK’s Federation to supposedly be promoting ”Cooperation between clubs, associations, federations and sleddog racing organisations” (Strategy2014-18BSSF) they are doing the exact opposite.

Surely I am not the only one who thinks that the BSSF Council acts of its own accord? Do their members feel like they are being listened to and represented? Only recently the BSSF have gone against their own constitution by making over a 60% increase in their junior membership fees and over 40% increase in the adult membership fees. An increase that was neither proposed or voted upon at the AGM. They have appointed a new Council member who proposed their own name at the AGM, who’s names was then refused as it wasn’t, according to the BSSF ‘correctly submitted’ and who was then informed by the President that there was already a individual interested in this role – who’s name remains nameless to this day . Yes, I was just as surprised as the role appointment as you all and I attended the AGM. Only this week we see on Facebook that their Mono Representative has stood down from office and they are now inviting nominations for the role, giving a 5 day period for nominations to be received in. Did any of you BSSF members receive this information by email as per their GDPR communications policy? No, me either, although I’m not surprised to hear they are acting out with their own communications policy.

I mean seriously, how can the comparatively recently formed federation for our Sport ignore its voting members rights as well as ignoring an organisation that’s been established and successfully run for well over 2 decades?

So it’s now become pretty apparent that the BSSF are unwilling to work alongside us by not actually allowing SDAS to run this event as one of our own (thus going against the voting rights and wishes of its members) We are not asking for something out of the ordinary as it was voted in at the BSSF AGM for SDAS to be given first refusal of organising this event. In the past this has meant SDAS would organise the race on behalf of the BSSF. SDAS would choose their own venue, arrange welfare facilities, catering facilities, event insurance, permits, camping….basically everything involved within the event. SDAS and the BSSF have always shared a mutual respect for each other especially when organising events and I’m unsure why this tone has changed of late.

The BSSF was once a dream where the British Sleddog people thought of creating an organisation that would combine the clubs together and be a united stance for us all. It was the opportunity to create the first true British Championship where no breed nor type of dog purebred or open would be discriminated against. It was a beacon of light created in the hopes of making our sport stronger and develop a strong sense of community amongst everyone…

Sadly what it is now is a shambles and truly making a mockery of our sport

I’m unsure where the future lies for the Sleddog Sport in Britain if the BSSF continue down this misguided and narrow-minded path they are hell bent on travelling down..

So with all that being said here is our race calendar for the upcoming race season, unfortunately we have no race in November due to an already internationally packed month and also from the reasons listed above.

We wish you all tight lines and clean runs this season and we look forward to seeing you at all the races;

I think everyone who attended will agree, Ford Estate race was a lovely race to end the season. Thank you to our sponsors CSJ and The Happy Go Lucky Dog Company for their support throughout the season.

Special thanks to Ann and Victoria from The Happy Go Lucky Dog Company for coming to Ford today with their stall and bringing not only the race prizes and Championship winners prizes, but also the Rebecca Johnson 315 Memorial Purple Harness and silver cup, which the committee members, present, decided should be awarded to Max McMillan for being the most aspirational musher.

Max has raced as a junior for a number of years, he has shown great progress in several disciplines, from 1 dog rig, through 2 dog rig, canicross and bikejor, and his affection and dedication to his dogs is apparent at all times. He helps to set and dismantle the trail at every race he attends and is always on hand to help out with any logistical needs throughout the weekend. His parents should be tremendously proud of him and the example he sets. Well done Max, your harness is en route 🙂

The date and venue for the AGM will be announced soon, any proposals or suggestions should be sent by email to

sdascommittee@gmail.com or by post to the secretary, Mary Carter at

BOWLAND TRAILS

NETHERAIRD OF GLASCLUNE

BLAIRGOWRIE

PERTHSHIRE

PH10 6SF.

Nominations for new committee members would also be welcomed.

And finally, have a great summer, everyone, let’s hope its a short cold one and we can all be racing again soon.

A direct request from the Estate Manager – parts of the field we use for parking will have been sown, PLEASE DO NOT PARK ON THE SOWN AREAS. If you arrive during the night and can not see what has been sown, do not enter the field.

Anyone who has entered already does not need to re-enter. The race is open to people who had not previously entered.

The AGM will not be held at Ford, notification of the AGM will be given when a date has been set.

Anyone who has any questions about the race, or any other SDAS related questions please send an email to to sdascommittee@gmail.com or send a private message to the Sled Dog Association of Scotland FaceBook page, we have asked a number of times for PM’s or emails not to be sent direct to committee members.

The weather has made it impossible for the race to go ahead. We are unable to get all of the required equipment to the site, and too many competitors would be risking driving in poor conditions, or unable to attend.

We have waited as late as we can to make this decision to allow the beast from the east to show its hand and it is not looking like the road conditions will improve sufficiently before Saturday.

The good news is that we may be able to reschedule for later in the month. We really do hope this will be possible, Ford is a very popular venue and we have added in some trails not used in previous races.

We will receive an update from the estate over the next couple of days confirming if there are any dates available for us to reschedule and we will update you as soon as we can. If we are able to reschedule, race entry will be reopened, anyone who has entered already and wishes to attend on the rescheduled date will automatically be entered. Anyone who has not entered already will be welcome to enter.

Competitors who have already entered will receive an email in the next 2 days asking if they wish to attend any rescheduled race and advising about refunds.

Please do not send private messages, text messages or emails directly to committee members. All messages should be directed to the Sled Dog Association of Scotland Facebook page private messages or sdascommittee@gmail.com

The Committee has recently discussed and decided upon postponing the AGM, that was originally to be held at our Ford Race on the 3rd March, until a date in the near future.

At present there are various committee members and members of our organisation who cannot attend the date previously set, so to allow for a fuller attendance of the AGM we are moving it to late spring/early summer in which we will incorporate it alongside a social gathering/BBQ/camping weekend

All information will be posted as soon as the date/venue is confirmed
Thank you

Over the last 2 months we have been working closely with a very talented couple, Nigel and Sandra Spicer who own and run Nordikota Print Studio.

Nigel and Sandra have happily agreed to go into partnership with SDAS and produce our very own merchandise line for anyone wishing to purchase items of clothing/beanies/skipcaps etc featuring our SDAS logo. Our logo can either be in print or embroidery and each garment has the option to be personalised with your own kennel affix/team name/numbers etc